Year Three Week Two – The Plan’s First Trial

“No plan survives contact with the enemy,” Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, German Field Marshal I think I scared myself last week when posited the difficulty of teaching a single subject across six grade levels much less five subject areas across said six grade levels. Oops.

Year Three

Even though I’ve been running classrooms for 23-years, the challenge of beginning another school year is more than a little overwhelming. As if that weren’t enough, I also closed on my new condo on the first day of classes, so add moving and setting up a new home to the “beginning of the school year” challenges.

Homelessness & Children

Homelessness & Children Family Advocacy Project – ESP772 – 1001 Summer 2018 – Joe Bustillos I created this post as part of a Master’s level course at UNLV that I took for my Nevada teacher credential. The research was inspired by the recent child separation dilemma created by poor policy decisions. Please feel free to ask questions or comments at

What Am I Changing for Next Year

Cleared my whiteboard to begin next school year’s plans… no worries, the “days left in the school year” countdown chart is virtually being updated on my iPad.

Have An Informed Opinion: Volunteer at Your Local School

So this showed up in my feed…. maybe these people should actually spend time visiting or volunteering at their local schools instead of watching right wing propaganda on their TVs and then throwing virtual rocks from their computers…. here was my response:

Learning LEGO EV3 Robots & Kids

  The first time you deploy anything in the classroom, much less something involving lots of small moving parts, I can guarantee that things won’t go as planned but if you planned well you’ll be able to see all the areas you need to fix/change the next time you do the lesson/unit. I’ve been waiting over a year to give

Reflecting on My Photography Editing Deficit (Taking Lots of Photos at School)

On March 2nd I shot over 150 images and videos on two cameras & my iPhone covering two student assemblies for the Jump for the Heart initiative. On the prior Wednesday, February 28th, I shot over 270 images covering a rugby demo/promo event. The Friday before that, February 23rd, I shot over 270 images covering my school’s Black History Assembly.

What Happens When You Read for Pleasure

Dealing with Broken Tech-Ed Stuff (Again)

As I’ve said before, nothing tests the reliability and toughness of equipment (and people) like being subjected to the daily use by 4- to 11-year-olds. It gives new (literal) meaning to the words “wear and tear.”